Canterbury’s Year In Historic Places Trust

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28530, 8 March 1958, Page 14

Canterbury’s Year In Historic Places Trust

The principal task of the Canterbury Regional Committee of the National Historic Places Trust had been to draw up a priority list of Canterbury projects for the consideration of the Trust, said the chairman, Mr W. J. Gardner, at the first annual meeting of the region. This list consisted of the Kaiapohia pa site at Woodend, the Onawe pa site, the Papanui bush site, and the site of Turton’s accommodation house, Ashburton.

Kaiapohia was the most historic Maori site in the South Island, said Mr Gardner. It was the scene of the greatest military action which was known in the island. The committee had sought the co-operation of the board of trustees of the site in the restoration of the pa site and the memorial, he said.

The Onawe pa. Akaroa, was built in 1831 in preparation for the expected invasion of Te Rauparaha, and it fell after Kaiapohia. This pa had been sold to Europeans. It occupied the best land on the Peninsula, and was fully cultivated. The committee had obtained the permission of the Papanui Domain Board to erect a plaque to mark the site of the former Papanui bush, said Mr Gardner. It had also offered its assistance to the Ashburton Borough Council in the celebration of the centenary of Ashburton. Maps showing the

true site of Turton’s accommodation house had been provided, though no authentic date of establishment before 1859 had been obtained, said Mr Gardner. The committee had recommended to the Christchurch City Coun- « cil the placing of a memorial to Lord Lyttelton in Hagley Park, said Mr Gardner. Dr. R. Duff had compiled a list of important sites on Banks Peninsula, and owners had been asked to forbid unauthorised and unqualified persons from curio-hunting. The recording and copying of the rock drawings along the Waitaki river had been put in hand by the Trust. Maori Sites Dr. Duff said that the committee’s future should not be only to plant plaques •at the sites of events which had vanished and left no physical trace. He favoured giving attention to Maori history. Pakeha history, in tragedy, drama and human appeal could not compare with the epic occasions of Maori times. The committee should regard itself si the chief public custodians of Maori sites. The committee was in the position of being the public conscience in historic matters, said Mr C. IL’ Straubel. Otherwise, no-one Would? wake up until things had been destroyed. The committee could do more than thAt: it should mark and record sites. Already 30 or 40 sites in Canterbury were marked to show the progress of settlement in the province. Canterbury had done more than most provinces in this already. If these functions of being the public conscience and marking and fully recording were fulfilled, then the work would be worth while, said > Mr Straubel.. r